Like other games of this ilk, the key to doing well in Minion Rush is to drive your multiplier as high as you can. You can build your multiplier in the game by performing Despicable Acts. This is usually just running into or otherwise displacing your fellow minions, but you can also earn this bonus by wrecking things using some of the power-ups.

Your starting multiplier is determined by how many of the game's missions you complete. You have three in play at any given time, one each from Gru, Dr. Nefario, or Gru's daughters, with Gru's generally being the most difficult to complete.

A disproportionate amount of these missions are connected with the game's social features, such as recruiting your friends, beating their scores, issuing challenges, and so on. You can skip any mission using tokens, but it will use anywhere from six to ten days' worth of them to do so. This basically means that unless you're willing to spend real money on tokens, you're going to have to harass your friends if you want to raise your multiplier much past the first couple of levels.